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Taffy
'''Taffy '''is a medium-sized tank locomotive from the Western Region. She helped Jenny to realise what it truly means to be a locomotive. Her Welsh ways made the locomotives on the line confused due to her strange design and power. Bio Taffy was built in 1928 by Swindon Works for coal traffic in Wales. Designed by Charles Benjamin Collett as a mixed traffic locomotive, she proved herself as a powerful and excellent member of her class, the GWR 5600 class. During WWII, Taffy had to shunt large amounts of coal and supplies for the army, since wartime traffic lead to so many locomotives being used for military purposes. Following the Nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948 and being a Great Western Railway (GWR) locomotive, her number was never changed and she continued being used on coal traffic in Wales, but this time on the former rails of the old Taff Vale Railway (TVR). The coal traffic on the old TVR lines was much heavier and she met a lot of locomotives from areas she never visited, or even met before. In 1962, Taffy was placed in loan for one week for usage on the Gladsville route from Northampsmith and met Jenny, the line's resident LMS-built Ivatt 2 2-6-2T. During her visit to the route, Taffy was asked by Jenny about her strange design, and Taffy asked about why ex-LMS locomotives looked small and old, before returning to work after her week-long loan was over. Taffy spent a quiet life and was withdrawn from Tyseley sheds in July 1965. She was scrapped by Birds of Long Marston on the 31st January 1966. Taffy was later mentioned by Armstrong in the 1970s, almost a decade after her disposal. Livery Taffy is painted in BR Brunswick Green with Late Crests. Unfortunately, most of her livery is covered in coal dust and other forms of weathering. Basis Taffy is based off a real GWR 5600 class 0-6-2T. These were designed by Charles Benjamin Collett for mixed-traffic duties in Wales, mostly for coal traffic. They were built to replace the fleet of inherited Taff Vale Railway 0-6-2Ts the GWR received in 1923. Over 200 of this design was built by the GWR's Swindon Works and Armstrong Whitworth between 1924 and 1928. The class was withdrawn from 1962 and the final one retired in 1965. Nine members of this have been preserved, but one of them is not No. 6644. The 5600 class was nicknamed by enthusiasts as "Taffy Tanks" or Taffies". Trivia Taffy's name comes from the nickname for the class. GWR 5600 class 0-6-2Ts are known by enthusiasts as "Taffies" or "Taffy tanks". Taffy is voiced by Sherya Chand, which lead to Shane Sowter trying to make Taffy not a racist character. This lead to Shane making Taffy's face covered in coal dust to match her weathered state. Taffy is done via a factory-weathered OO gauge GWR 5600 class 0-6-2T by Bachmann. Because of the model's weathered state, this locomotive was not renumbered. Like Armstrong, Taffy has her own GWR Toad brake van, but a diagram AA15 (oddly, in GWR Grey). Category:Tank locomotives Category:Mainline Category:Secondary characters Category:Ex-GWR